Overall satisfaction after radiation

Okay, so I'm only 2 weeks out from my last radiation, so maybe I'm not the person you're looking to hear from.  However, I did want to tell you that my skin and breast really look pretty good!  Now I didn't burn horribly--no peeling or blistering (except small blister on nipple--ouch!)  Already the redness is almost completely gone and I have very little pain.   A little sore, but nothing that keeps me up at night or keeps me from normal life.  And my breast size hasn't changed at all--it really does look pretty much like my other one, except for the scar. 

So far, no regrets!  It's early and only time will tell, I guess.  We go into these things knowing there can be serious risks--but for me the risk of my cancer returning was much more scary.  Hopefully some others who are farther out will respond with their experience.  Good luck!

25 rounds and 5 boosts in 2007. At the time my breast was just red and hot, no blistering (use the oinment religiously from the start, don't wait until you have a problem). Today my boob looks and feels fine. Absolutely no regrets; as it was part of the 'do everything possible so that I never have to play this game again' plan. Best of Luck! Ruth

Radiation damaged the breast so much that it started rotting from the inside out, very painful, sick all the time, hospitalized for 8 days once, weeks of IV antiobiotics and hyperbaric treatments, finally had to have a mastectomy anyway.  Stupidest decision I ever made.  My entire chest from neck to waist got irradiated and is discolored and ugly now.  I also have lung damage and probably heart damage, too.  I did everything they told me to do (which wasn't much, put on aloe 3 x day and make sure to put it on just before each treatment, drink extra water, eat extra protein) but the rad onc said I must not have been following instructions or I wouldn't have gotten so badly burned or had so much pain. The fatigue during treatment and for 3 months afterwards was debilitating.  I couldn't do anything except feed the dog and drive myself back and forth to treatment.  I'm still trying to figure out what I did and wasn't supposed to or didn't do that I was supposed to do. 

Poor Native; you either had a very rare and terrible reaction, or they really screwed up!!!!!!! I think for most people, if the choice is lumpectomy and rads or MX, the first is the way to go. When I read about all the extended surgeries and problems a lot of the reconstruction gals go through, I am really glad I had this option.

June...I had no issues at all...33 rads, 7 of them boosts, the facility was fine, the personnel wonderful, hardly ever had to to wait, was in and out in minutes...much better than chemo! 

Ok..was a little sore at the end but went braless on a trip to the beach...I think the sea air healed me quickly!  Oh..and I'm 6 months out from rads...no side effects at all...you can't even tell I had rads except for one tiny little tattoo and  I feel fine.

I'm so sorry NativeMainer...!  I can't believe they told you to put aloe on before each zap either!  That is just so wrong!

I was diagnosed in June of 2007 with Stage 1 Breast Cancer in the right upper breast. I found a lump in my chest wall actually. It was at the very top of the breast. I had very good doctors and a very good radiology team. I was treated at a teaching hospital, so some times there were many "Doctors" and or "Radiologists" in the room. Being shy was not an option here. :-) I had 7 weeks of radiation and four days of what they call "bursts" which were set directly on the lumpectomy site. The underside of my breast took the brunt of the radiaiton. I did not even know that it would be affected until it became raw and red. I tried the creams they gave me and that did not work. They offered these gel pads to me and they were really cool to the touch and I felt a lot better as the burning was gone. Every day that I went to radiation I asked for more and more and that helped me to get through it. Healing time was quick after treatment ended. It has been almost three years since all started. I still have discoloartion under the breast and at the incision site, but it is slowly fading. I have recently returned to the hospital where I was treated and was given a clean bill of health. I am currently looking into having a breast reduction, but the specialist tells me that there could be complications after the surgery because of the radiation I received. I was wondering if there was anyone who has had something like this done after receiving radiation and how their healing process went: complications or no complications? I could really use some advice here. Sincerely, V.

OMG, that is seriously and absolutely criminal; can these other ladies be found? Do you know if they are giving the same advice? If a lawsuit is out the questions,  can you file a complain with your state health department? At least they would be investigated then. ARGH! 

I can't get anyone to take on my case as a lawsuit because the record is so perfect.  The techs working when I got treatment are no longer working there.  I have made 2 complaint reports to the Joint Commission, filed a complaint with the Licensing Division of the DHS which got them a surprise insepction, have a complaint filed against the rad onc with the state medical board, and most recently contacted the regional  Civil Liberties Union who is also going to investigate them.  The statue of limitations runs out for a lawsuit this summer, so I've got to accept that nothing will be done that way, but I do know enough about the system to make life miserable for them for a while.  The biggest problem is that I was an employee of the system at the time, and the health insurance was a "self funded" one, so the usual insurance rules don't apply.  I am refusing to pay the last $1000 that they billed me (not billing through the 3rd party company was a "simple oversight" as was not paying me my vacation time until 3 months after I was terminated when FMLA ran out).  Of course, not paying is hurting me more than them since they've sent it to 2 collection agencies, but it's the principle of the thing that keeps me going. 

That's part of what keeps me going.  There is at least one other woman out there who got MY treatments when I got hers, maybe even more than one since they called me by 2 or 3 names other than my own.  I'm hoping that my fussing will result in those women being identified and warned.  I'll never know for sure, but I can hope.  And the Rad Onc's refusal to write down any answers to my questions has brought out the b!$@# in me. 

They took my picture too before starting radiation, so I think it must depend on the qualtiy of your clinic (and I, apparently, was lucky!).

Driver's license quality?

I've thought about going to the media, but I won't do that until after the statute of limitations runs out in July.  I still hope to fine a lawyer that will take the case. And they did take my picture, too, after I'd been crying for hours during the simulation/CT horror show. They said they have to have a picture on file, but it doesn't go in the chart.  I was too upset at the time to question that. 

Hello Ladies,

My picture was taken as well at the cancer centre where I had my RADS done.

I had 16 rounds of radiation done and 5 boosts.  I did end up with a pretty bad burn mostly around the areola of the breasts and the underarm.  The areola/nipple for the past week has been peeling quite a bit and the underarm is still quite red and is just starting to peel.

The Rad Oncologist first off prescribed me a cortisone cream and I used it for the first week and a half and I thought I was reacting to it, so I complained to him to this affect, and then he prescribed me a Silver Salfadiasine cream and used this for a better part of a week and this I definitely reacted to and stopped and have gone back to the cortisone cream.

The radiation therapists have been very understanding and compassionate with me, which has made my RADS easy to go thru.

As for longterm effects, being as it was done on the right side, yes I do worry about effects to the lungs, particularly taking into concern that I do have asthma, but only time will tell.

I however, hope that the areola/nipple area and some of the burn off to the side of the breast and underarm area will heal over time.  I am only 8 days post radiation therapy.

Wish the rest of you much luck.   Charmaine

I wish I had never done the rads.  I was bullied into it and not informed enough to refuse.  The side effects afterwards will be with me all my life.

I didn't have burning or even redness.  But the radiation was hitting my stomach and caused me to have a low white count that is not going to ever go away.  I got axillary cording from having the lymphatic system that runs down my side getting cooked.  That too is permanent, and painful.  My areola is shrivelled, and the nipple has inverted from fat necrosis.

A mastectomy wouldn't look any worse.  And all this for a stage 1 lump with an onco score of only 7.